Indiana: Up Close and Personal

I went to Indiana, BLoomington on Friday night with Ruby. REached there at 11pm their time. I went to Indiana to attend my brother/cousin/bestbud's graduation day, Danar Samron (Congrats Bro!) He attended IU-bloomington. So anyway, I must say that Indiana is so beautiful (for a one week stay max). I love the trees, the lake, the view, the cute houses.. Totally in love with the cute houses in Indianapolis. The cold water in the Lake Melon (if I remember correctly), the tree whose leaves look like little green butterflies on it.. The people too.. friendly and so happy (most of them).

Okay.. so the Graduation Party on Saturday 7 May 2005. I must say I HATEHATEHATEHATE the 'thank you' part.. you know.. the part when the graduates thank their parents... Okay I dun really HATEHATE but i Hatehate it becoz I cried during the thank you part. DUn call me soft-hearted just yet. Let's just think of a typical Thank You part in LA.... The graduates will say "Thanks Mom Dad coz of you guys I'm here...I am graduating from this school and I hope you are proud of me" And as they speak, their parents will be there in the banquet room, smiling at them proudly.

NOW IMAGINE THIS:
The second guy to give thanks in Indiana Banquet was crying before he started saying anything.. So I'm like OKAY... he's overwhelmed.. N i'm wrong.. turns out his parents were not even there, he had been quarellign with his father, had serious prob w the father, prob financially.. Even hearing this, I was emphatetic (is this a word?)

So next the second gal to give thanks to her parents.. No parents attending that night.. and she said this "I want to thank my dad and my mom who is in Heaven.. I hope they're proud of me" and she continues, "my mom had just passed away and she was working so hard for paying for me until her death" I'm like half crying by then.. and then she continues.. "I also want to thank my aunty who has come all the way from LA. she had helped me when my mother passed away, and helped me financially and also helped me when my sister had leukimia" I'm LIKE : WHATTT THEE.... OMIGOD.. ISN'T HER LIFE JUST HARD ENOUGH WITH HER MOM'S DEATH NOW SHE HAD TO DEAL WITH THE SISTER'S LEUKIMIA.. THIS IS SO SICK......

I can't stop thinking how different these ppl are from the ppl I know in LA.. The ppl in La.. for the graduation, most if not all the parents will come for the banquet.. Most of them have no trouble financially. In Indiana, half of them do not have their parents there with them. SOme cannot afford it, some with other reasons. I compare this not for the sake of pointing out the wealth difference. More like: we often do not know what we have right in front of us. I never meet these stories in LA and I guess it's an eye-opener that life is not always that easy for others.

Enough Said.